
Class. 
Book. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 



THE ART OF SHAKESPEARE 



HAMLET 



•./^ BY 
hf At SHERMAN 

Professor of English Literature 
University of Nebraska 

, . ,M or co.v,: ; 



LINCDX-IT 
J. H. Miller, Publisher 
i8g5 



?^*"ve^^/^^/ 



TKzso 
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Copyrighted, 1896, 

BY 

J. H. Miller. 



PRESS OF 

JACOB NORTH & COMPANY, 

LINCOLN, NEB. 



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INTRODUCTION. 

Many people suppose that, in order to interpret Shake- 
speare, it is necessary to learn new mental processes of some 
kind. Many other people believe that, to interpret Shake- 
speare, it is not necessary to learn any new mental processes or 
even to use the old ones very vigorously, since there is nothing 
in Shakespeare to interpret. Shakespeare, they say, is only 
what one puts into him; and Shakespeare is remarkable alone 
for his capacity to appropriate and seem to absorb all that his 
admirers, collectively and respectively, have endowed him with. 
Indeed, most of these would add, it is doubtful if there be any 
such thing as literary interpretation at all. 

Both these assumptions are distressingly and injuriously false. 
The one keeps many earnest minds from culture through fear of 
insuperable difificulties, the other helps render ignorance impreg- 
nable. To read Shakespeare requires no mastery of new princi- 
ples, but simply an adaptation or adjustment of processes used 
continually in outside life. Reading Shakespeare involves but 
the interpretation of partly hidden meanings, just as reading 
faces and motives and character among men. Shakespeare is 
only life reproduced and perpetuated in a book. 

What method of study will best forestall these wrong assump- 
tions, and make Shakespeare known, at least to such as are yet 
learners in our schools ? The first thing to be done is not to ety- 
mologize his language, or philologize his Elizabethan English. 
We must know the meanings of his words, but we do not need at 
once to learn the history of those meanings. That will not find 
the life in his pages, nor show us how he holds the mirror up to 
natui-e, nor make us understand the minds and characters that 
he has analyzed. To find out how he has analyzed them, and by 
what means he exhibits them to us, is to study Shakespeare's 
art. Whenever Shakespeare's art is discerned and his higher 



IV INTRODUCTION 

meaning compassed, the result is an immediate spiritual quick- 
ening. Students achieving this experience know there is such a 
thing as literary art, and teach others so. They are quickened 
also in the interpretation of motives and men and life without. 
Moreover, when a mind has been thus energized, there seems no 
question of its spiritual future. It goes on to higher and higher 
culture of its own momentum. 

But is it possible to teach the art of Shakespeare except to the 
favored few, — to those who would grasp it in any case? This 
little book is intended to serve as the answer to that question. 
It offers no method of sugar-coating literary study, or of invei- 
gling pupils into a liking for Shakespeare. It proposes genuine 
and sustained tasks from day to day, yet work that furnishes 
its own impetus and enthusiasm. The questions are but means 
by which to locate the principal art-points, and are so inductively 
multiplied as to bring all difficulties, it is believed, within the 
grasp of any diligent and aspiring mind. 

The foundation of art is emotional inference. Not that what 
we call logical inference is necessarily unemotional, or that emo- 
tional inferences are illogical. An emotional inference is a 
process of reasoning in which the conclusion is conceived and 
apprehended in that condition of mind which we call imagina- 
tion. For example, I met upon the street lately an old man, 
bowed and decrepit, wearing soiled and ragged clothing. He 
was holding in his mouth a black, short, clay pipe, and there was 
the smell of alcohol upon his breath. I was conscious of no effect 
thus far from the spectacle, except some degree of pity, and 
should quickly have forgotten all about it. But as I passed, the 
old man raised his head and let me see his face. He had most 
brilliant and expressive eyes, and most refined features, and I 
found myself at once picturing what a veritable Apollo he piust 
have been in his youth, and, instantly after, what he might have 
been to himself and to the world if he had escaped his vice. 
Here I was engaging in an act of inference, and with consider- 
able accompanying emotion, since the whole transaction was 
wrought in a state of imagination. It is by way of emotional in- 
ferences such as this that the deeper and intenser meanings of 
literature are appropriated. 



ART OF SHAKESPEARE V 

The usual way of indicating character, both in books and out- 
side of them, in common intercourse of people as well as in 
Shakespeare, is by presentation of certain consequences or effects 
of character, which shall be potential to imagination of the 
character itself. A single escapade or act may be so chosen as 
to be indicative not only of the special enabling trait, but also of 
the whole character permitting or producing it. It is not nec- 
essary, for example, to enumerate all or many proofs of a squalid 
home. To say that the mother washes the family linen on Sat- 
urday, or the dinner dishes in cold water after dark, is quite 
sufficient. Herein we shall note that effects of character are 
something more than what are ordinarily called signs. They 
make us not only discern the existence of some cause, but con- 
ceive in imagination other and more vital consequences as 
derived or derivable from that same cause. 

Character-effects, — sometimes in the following exercises called 
"effects" simply, are divided into two Classes, the first on the 
basis of their nature, the second with reference to their use. 
The first class is subdivided into "effects" of kind, and of degree. 
Of all "effects" the most interesting and significant are such 
as are indicative of character. To illustrate character-effects of 
kind, we have but to open our eyes to traits in ourselves or others 
that we are noting and interpreting evei-y hour. The shop- 
keeper that makes change just as scrupulously with children too 
young to count the money handed back as with older folk, we 
say is honest, and we trust him ever after. The farmer who is 
continually adjusting the harness to his horses at the plow is 
the man that workmen will hire out to. Character-effects of 
degree are not so numerous as those of kind, and yet abound 
within the observation of everybody. The man I once knew who 
was never heard to say yes or no, but was even whipped by 
his schoolmaster for obstinately refusing to use one of these 
words, furnishes a unique example. Lincoln returning to re- 
lease the pig affords a far nobler illustration. Next impor- 
tant among character-effects are those of mood. ' Kind' effects 
of mood are exceedingly numerous. A curl of the lip shows 
scorn; a mere gesture betrays impatience or perhaps peevish- 



VI INTRODUCTION 

ness; a drawing of the face-muscles indicates a passing twinge 
of pain. As to 'degree' effects of mood, an oath or a blow, a harsh 
retort or an insulting epithet, are too evident examples. The 
lad, in Browning's Incident of the French Camp, who, from en- 
thusiasm for his chief, brings the news of victory with "his breast 
all but shot in two," is a superb illustration of how these simple 
elements of power are used in books. 

Under the first division there remain to be considered such 
as are best called effects of Incident. They are easily distin- 
guished from effects of Character, and of Mood, since, though 
often arousing imagination equally with these, they never quite 
amount to revealments of personality, or of emotional states. 
Incident effects, like the others, are either of kind or of degree. 
The sudden fall of the mercury in a ship's glass, in the tropics, 
is a good example of the 'kind' variety. Imagination not only 
pictures the coming hurricane, but the behavior of the steamer 
in weathering the stress. The diagnosis of disease proceeds by 
incident effects of kind, the threatened sickness and its probable 
period being anticipated in the imagination of the physician, or, 
more typically, of some anxious friend. When imagination is 
occupied not so much with the nature of the disease as with its 
severity, as when pronounced cholera or yellow fever, the effect 
is not of kind but degree. A fire-alarm reported as from a the- 
atre where friends of ours are witnessing a play is an incident- 
effect of ' degree.' Imagination does not evaluate the kind, but 
the degree of peril that is imminent. 

Usually both in life and in books, degree-effects are preceded 
by effects of kind. Sometimes effects are met with that do duty 
for degree and kind both in one. This is the method of Tennyson 
in Elaitie. It is the secret of the dynamic quality in Beside the 
Bonnie Brier Bush. Shakespeare in his strongest work uses 
this method of concentration. He introduces Hamlet to us by a 
degree-effect of mood, by having him wear, while the court is in 
marriage dress, the blackest mantle he can find, and making 
him refuse even to look upon his uncle and his mother. We sus- 
pect this due to a reckless and defiant feeling, that will quickly 
pass. By the time he finishes his soliloquy we change our infer- 



ART OF SHAKESPEARE VU 

ence, and interpreting again find that we have filled our con- 
sciousness with the inky cloak, his yielding to his mother, and 
his defiance of the King as degree effects of character, poten- 
tially including all antecedent effects of kind. 

According to the first division, then, effects are of two princi- 
pal species. Kind and Degree; and each of these is divided 
further into three sub-classes, as in the following scheme. 

Effects 



of Kind of Degree 



Effects of Incident Effects of Incident 

Effects of Mood Effects of Mood 

Effects of Character Effects of Character 

Under the second division, 'effects' are considered without 
reference to their nature or their influence upon imagination, but 
wholly as to the manner of their use. When observed and inter- 
preted at first hand they are Direct. When reported by the ob- 
server and interpreted after his example, they may be called 
Second-Hand, since they have been used before. The spectacle 
of the broken-down old man, told about in our earliest illustra- 
tion, furnished direct character-effects of degree to the writer 
of these pages; but to the reader they are second-hand. If any 
attempt were made to enact such effects, either in the com- 
moner manner of mimicry or upon the stage, they would be- 
come Dramatic. Of course in Shakespeare, except in the Venus, 
the Lucrece, and the Sonnets, all character-hints are of the last- 
named sort. 

Another literary and dramatic principle, next in importance 
to Emotional Inference, must not be omitted here. This is the 
principle of Subordination. The given mind is constantly insti- 
tuting comparisons not only between other respective minds but 
between others and itself. The man who is penetrative recog- 
nizes another as yet more acute. One that is artistic interprets 
at once the signs of a superior taste or sensitiveness to beauty, 
and postures himself as to a leader. In common life the million- 
aire subordinates himself to his shoemaker, or the shopman from 



Vlll INTRODUCTION 

whom he buys his hats and gloves. A Gladstone, inspecting his 
estate, may be subordinated, if his jeweled repeater chances to 
be wrong, to the meanest tenant boy whose ten-shilling watch 
has just been set. In a strange city we are consciously subordi- 
nated to the street workman, of whom we inquire the way. Any 
isolated and incidental superiority is enough to engage imagina- 
tion, and will perhaps amount to a temporary reversal of stated 
and recognized relations. 

By devices of this sort an author is enabled to control at will 
the sympathies of his audience with reference to a given per- 
sonality. In the drama the simplest means is to make the 
person to be subordinated enter to the character or characters 
that shall be superior for the time being. Rosencrantz and 
Guildenstern are put to an appropriate disadvantage, as re- 
gards Hamlet, at their first meeting, by entering to him, as a 
little earlier in the same scene was also Polonius, At the end, to 
help complete Hamlet's temporary abasement, he is made to 
enter to the grave digger, and indeed to be worsted in a wit- 
combat with him. But by this expedient Hamlet is given in 
turn the vantage, just before he is again idealized to us, as he 
awaits the entry of the mourners and overhears the imprecations 
of Laertes. Nothing is more edifying than special and separ- 
ate study of the situations in a play of Shakespeare, with re- 
spect to the ingenuity and variety of his subordinations. 

No complete or even provisional outline of Shakespeare's 
principles and methods is contemplated here. Enough has 
been given to enable successful first study of his greater works. 
As has been noted, all minds of average intelligence achieve 
the power to read character and moods and motives in outside 
circumstances. To do this in books, we must quicken our im- 
aginations, and, by adding the element of conscious knowledge, 
complete and verify our inchoate and partial experiences. Thus- 
the matter-of-fact mind may learn the pleasures of literature 
and the bookish brain become expert in the interpretation of life 
and men. 



QUESTIONS 
ON THE ART OF HAMLET. 



ACT I. 

SCENE I. 

1. (a) As the curtain rises at the opening of the play, is the 
•effect bright and cheering or the reverse? (d) How many figures 
on the stage at first? {c) Does Francisco walk about or make 
any noise? Why? (d) Is Bernardo yet on guard? Which of 
these should challenge? 

2. (a) Who should first see the other, Francisco or Bernardo? 
Who does see the other first? How do you explain this and the 
challenging? (d) Is this a time of war? (c) Does Bernardo 
expect to find Francisco just here? (d) If Bernardo seems 
startled on seeing him, why is it? {e) Why does not Bernardo 
use some other than the abrupt, military manner of expression? 

3. (a) In " Nay, answer me,'' what word has chief stress? Ex- 
pand Francisco's meaning in these three words? {d) Is Fran- 
cisco as much startled as Bernardo? Why? (c) What does 
"Stand and unfold yourself" mean? {d) Do you take it Ber- 
nardo's response is the watchword of the night? (e) Why does 
he not stand upon his dignity and insist that Francisco shall re- 
spond to /lis challenge? Does he even think of this? 

4. (a) Did Bernardo recognize Francisco's voice in 1. 2? 
{d) Did Francisco recognize Bernardo's in 1. i? Why? {c) In 
1. 3? Why? [d) Is there any difference in the manner in which 



2 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

Bernardo's first two speeches are uttered? Explain, (e) What 
would happen to Bernardo if he did not come carefully upon his 
hour? {/) Then why does Francisco note this, and even 
thank him for coming at all? 

5. (a) What dramatic purpose in making Bernardo say "'Tis 
now struck twelve"? {d) Why the question about "quiet 
guard," 1. 10? [c) Does Francisco's answer indicate that he has 
been under any strain to-night? If so, why, again, did he not 
hear or see Bernardo? (d) Does Bernardo's answer indicate 
that he is delighted to hear Francisco has had quiet guard ? Why 
is this? 

6. (a) Why does Bernardo wish Horatio and Marcellus to 
make haste? (d) Which person comes first to his mind? Which 
enters first? What does Shakespeare accomplish by this? 
{c) Why does not Horatio now challenge first, as Bernardo did? 
(d) From the text does it seem that Horatio stops when com- 
manded? (e) Why does he not give the countersign? 

7. (a) Is Horatio startled? Do you think Marcellus alone 
might be? {d) Why does not Francisco leave the first time he 
says good night? (c) Why does Marcellus talk here, and why 
does not Horatio? {d) What does Bernardo's question about 
Horatio indicate? (e) What Horatio's reply? (/) Whom does 
Bernardo welcome first? Why "good " Marcellus? 

8. (a) From 11. 21-22, does it seem that either Marcellus or 
Bernardo has any doubt of the reality of former appearances of 
"this thing "? (d) Why does Marcellus say "the jninutes of this 
night"? {c) What is meant by "approve our eyes"? (^) Why 
is it desired that Horatio should speak to this apparition? 

9. {a) From 1. 30, how does Horatio seem to feel about being 
here at all? {b) In what mood does Horatio say, " Well, sit we 
down"? {c) At this point, which one of the characters repre- 
sents the mood of the audience? {d) If Bernardo should comr 
plete his story would the attitude of the audience be changed? 
Would Horatio's attitude? {,e) What is accomplished by the 
few lines Bernardo speaks? 

10. {a) Upon Horatio, what is the effect of the ghost's appear- 
ance? {b) Upon the audience, what? (^) Why do Marcellus and 



Bernardo each speak twice before Horatio speaks? Why does 
each appeal to Horatio? {d) Why does Marcellus say "Thou art 
a scholar"? (<?) What effect upon the audience from Horatio's 
words, 1. 44? (/) Why do both the others again urge Horatio 
to speak? {g) From Horatio's words, do you take it he admired 
the late King? [h] Was the King worthy? (z) Does Horatio 
expect a reply? 

11. {a) What difference in Horatio's manner in 11. ig and 51? 
{b) Which is now the chief character on the stage? [c) Where 
was this subordination accomplished? {d) By I. 66 is there any 
doubt as to the reality of any one of the three appearances? 
(e) Before the ghost entered, which of the three characters on 
the stage had talked least? Since the ghost's exit, which has 
talked most? (/) Which of the three is now most impressed by 
the ghost? How do you account for this? {g) What, precisely 
has the appearing of the ghost effected? 

12. (a) Now that Horatio is convinced that the ghost has ap- 
peared, do the others seem satisfied? {b) What new line of 
thought does Horatio take up in 11. 6j-6g1 (c) What difference 
between Horatio and the others? (d) From 11. 70-107, what 
notion do you form of the old king? [e) How do you think the 
reigning king compares with him? (/) Why is there no talk of 
this reigning king? 

13. {a) How has the tension of the earlier part of the scene 
been relieved before 1. 107? {b) Why was this change neces- 
sary? (<:) Dramatically, what is the purpose of 11. 108-125? 
{d) What marked difference in the preparation for the two ap- 
pearances of the ghost? (,e) What marked difference correspond- 
ingly in the effect? (_/) What does Horatio think may be the 
result to him of speaking to the ghost, 1. 127? 

14. (a) Has Horatio ever believed in ghosts before? [b) Has 
he any doubts now ? {c) Does Horatio, Marcellus, or Bernardo be- 
lieve this ghost may be stopped by force? {d) Why do they try? 
((?) The first time the ghost appeared, was the main interest in 
the ghost itself, or in any communication it might make? What 
did Horatio ask it to say? (/) How is this on the second ap- 
pearance? 



4 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

15. (a) From " Exit Ghost," 1. 142, to 1. 167, what is the charac- 
ter of the language used? {i>) What is the purpose of these 
lines in the play? (c) By the end of the scene, in which of all 
the characters are we most interested? (d) How is this result 
accomplished? 

SCENE II. 

1. (a) As compared with the preceding scene, what contrast 
now in the appearance of the stage? [d) From the stage direc- 
tion, does it seem that all the court are present? (c) From the 
King's first speech, do you think he has met the court before as 
king ? (d) How should the courtiers be dressed, gaily or so- 
berly? (e) On such an occasion, how would a king probably 
take it if some one should appear in black? (f) How is Hamlet 
clad (cf. 1. 7'j)'^. 

2. {a) What is thus shown of Hamlet's mood? {b) What of 
his character? (c) Who should be the most prominent figure at 
a court reception? [d) Who is most prominent here? {e) How 
does Hamlet's manner compare with that of the courtiers 
(cf. 11. 70-71)? 

3. (fl) Do you know anything of the English law about mar- 
riage with the brother of a dead husband (cf. Encyclopiedia 
Britannica, article Marriage)? {b) Has it been long since the 
last King died? (c) Do you imagine the King has been eager 
to meet the court? {d) Is the talk about the late King's death 
and the marriage unnecessarily long, or does the King seem will- 
ing to find another theme? (e) Is the manner of this speech 
easy and natural, or the reverse? (/) Does the presence of 
Hamlet make it easier for the King to say what he must say ? 
{g) How much truth probably is there in 11. 14-16? 

4. (a) Does the conduct of Fortinbras indicate any contrast 
between the King and his predecessor? {b) If you were in 
Hamlet's place, would you enjoy your mother's conduct? (c) 
What do you think Hamlet means by wearing this inky cloak? 
{d) Does it take any courage to wear it? {e) After Cornelius and 
Voltimand go, to whom would the court naturally expect the 
King to speak first? (/) Which seems most eager, Laertes to 



talk or the King to have him talk? (^^) How do you explain 
this? 

5. (a) Is the King fortunate in his manner of addressing Ham- 
let? {i) Does Hamlet enjoy being called his son? (c) Does 
Hamlet perceive the King's embarrassment? (^) What does 
Hamlet mean by 1. 65? (e) From the readiness of this aside, 
what do you assume of Hamlet's ability to deal with the King? 

6. (a) What does the old expression " i' the sun" mean? (d) 
Do you find any double meaning in "sun"? (c) What can the 
King say in reply? Do you understand why it is not he who 
speaks next, but the Queen? (rt^) If you were in Hamlet's place, 
would consolation from this mother be effective? What would 
you think of the "for ever" of 1. 70? (<?) Do 11. 72-73 show much 
spirituality or tact in the Queen? 

7. (a) What does Hamlet mean by "common"? (i) Does the 
Queen note this meaning? ic) What different tone does she take 
in her response, and why? (d) In the first line of Hamlet's an- 
swer, what two of the last four words have the chief stress ? 
{e) Why is it the Kmg who replies here? Compare with 1. 68, 

8. (a) What must be the effect of 11. 90-92 on Hamlet ? (i^) 
What do you think of the Kiu'^i's climax in 11. 101-103? {c) After 
all this, is Hamlet flattered by "think of us as of a father" ? (d) 
From 11. 108-109, do you think the King may suspact Hamlet has 
ambitions? What means does the King take to make peace 
with Hamlet ? (e) Do Hamlet and the King enjoy each others 
society ? Why does the King beseech Hamlet not to leave the 
court ? 

Q. (a) Why does Hamlet not reply ? (d) Is ths Queen's motive 
the same as the King's in making the request ? (c) What sig- 
nificance in the last two words of 1. 120? (rt^) Why does the 
King speak as he does in 1. 121 ? Why the "Madam, come" of 
1. 122, and the "Come away" of 1. 128? («•) What does the King 
propose to do now ? (/) What must, by this time, be Hamlet's 
mood ? (^) Would weaker expression than 11. 129-159 here seem 
adequate? (A) How do these lines affect our notion of the King, 
the Queen, and Hamlet's father ? 

10. (a) From what you have seen of Hamlet, do you think him 
intelligent and refined, or the reverse ? {^) What would you say 



6 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

of the court ? (c) Do you think it was politic in Hamlet to in- 
sult the King in the presence of the court ? {d) Was it fool- 
hardiness that led him to do this, or what was it? 

11. (a) What respect was shown Hamlet by the courtiers? 
{6} Do Horatio's words, 1. i6o and 1. 162, tell us anything of his 
character? Of Hamlet's? (c) From 1. 161, does it seem they 
have ever known each other intimately ? (d) Is pompousness or 
good-fellowship shown in Hamlet's talk, 11. 160-174? {e) What 
does Hamlet mean by 1. 175? (/) What is indicated by the 
difference between 1. 176 and 1. 53 ? 

12. (a) Why does Hamlet attach importance to the story of 
the apparition when Horatio did not ? {d) What, probably, is 
Hamlet thinking as he says 1. 220? Why does he next so 
thoroughly investigate the story ? (c) Why does not Hamlet 
ask 1. 229 at once, instead of 1. 226? {d) If Horatio should hes- 
itate about 1. 230, what would Hamlet know ? (e) Does not 
Hamlet know that a true apparition of his father would, after the 
Queen's conduct, seem as Horatio says in 1. 232 ? Yet what an- 
swer does Hamlet invite by 1. 231 ? (/) What answer to 1. 233 
does Hamlet's way of asking evidently invite? 

13. (a) How do you account for the difference of opinion in 
11. 238-240? {i>) If these men were in the pay of the King to 
lure Hamlet to the platform, would they differ ? Do you think 
Hamlet understands this? (c) What possibility of deception is 
left ? (d) Does the manner of asking 1. 240 seem to invite pre- 
cision in the answer? What does this question test? (e) In 11. 
242-253, does Hamlet show lack of readiness in decision? 

14. (a) Why does Horatio say z/ instead of /le, 11. 215-220? 
And why should such strong language be used in 11. 244-246 and 
in 1. 127 of Sc. I.? (d) Has Hamlet in this scene accepted any 
subordination of the rest to his princely rank? (c) Which clearly 
subordinates the other by nature, Hamlet or Horatio? (d) Do 
or do not Hamlet's words indicate penetration and intelligence? 
{e) How far did the guards go in divining the cause of the 
ghost's appearance? How far did Horatio go ? How far does 
Hamlet go ? (/) In 1. 256 do you find any tendency to procras- 
tination ? 



SCENE III. 

1. {a) With what incident in the preceding scene is this scene 
connected? (d) What of evident importance in the play is told 
us in Laertes' second speech? (c) From Ophelia's first words, 
do you think her affectionate or self-contained? (d) From her 
second speech, do you think she loves Hamlet or not? (<?) Do 
her words indicate strength or weakness of character? 

2. [a) If Laertes were really concerned about Ophelia, and 
thought it dangerous for her to be with Hamlet, would he be 
likely to bring forward as many reasons as in 11. 10-44? Would he 
speak at such length or in such leisurely fashion? (d) Do you 
think that Hamlet is a man Ophelia needs to guard against as 
Laertes insinuates ? (c) What do you think is Laertes' real reason 
for this talk? (d) From Ophelia's reply, 11. 45-51, do you think 
she understands what kind of man her brother is ? (<?) Was 
Laertes in a hurry in 11. 10-44? Why is he now? (/) Why does 
not Laertes say 'oztr father,' 1. 52? {£■) What is your impression 
of his character? 

3. (a) Do Laertes' words, 11. 53-54, indicate that he grieves at 
the thought of parting from his father? If the choice were his, 
would he seek or avoid this second leave-taking? (6) From 
Polonius' first line, has he longed to see his son once more? 
(c) How does 1. 61 of the preceding scene contribute to an under- 
standing of the three lines before it? (d) If Polonius thinks it 
important that Laertes should character these precepts in his 
memory, why were they not imparted at the first leave-taking? 
(<?) From the sound of these precepts, do you think them original 
with Polonius? (/) In the time given, is Laertes likely to char- 
acter them all in his memory ? Will they be the guiding prin- 
ciples of his life ? {£■) If they should, would they tend to make 
Laertes a good fellow or a prig? 

4. {a) What do you infer from Laertes' reply? {d) What 
reason does Polonius give for hurrying Laertes away from his 
farewell to Ophelia? (c) Is Polonius overcome with grief when 
Laertes goes? Do you find Polonius inquisitive? (d) From 1. go, 
why is it, evidently, that Polonius has not before given Ophelia 



8 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

such advice as he now gives? (e) Does Polonius seem gratefuf 
for this "caution," 1. 95? How would most fathers take it? 

5. (a) Do you find any further hint of Polonius' character in 
the first two words of I. loi ? (d) Is 1. 102 seriously to Ophelia's- 
discredit? (c) What play on words in 1. 103? (d) Does a pun 
under such circumstances indicate nobility of nature in Polonius?' 
(e) In 11. 105-109 does Polonius seem most concerned about 
Ophelia or this pun ? (/) What sort of an ' effect ' is this ? 

6. (a) In 11. 115-117, what hint of Polonius' experiences? How 
does Polonius help you to understand Laertes ? (^) Upon what evi- 
dence does Polonius base his statements in 11. 127-131 ? (c) When 
Polonius said 11. 120-121, do you think he expected to say 11. 131- 
135 ? (^) Do you think Polonius could now tell what precepts it 
was he gave Laertes? Do you think Laertes could? (e) DO' 
Polonius' last three words make you admire him? (/) What 
answer would you like to hear Ophelia give ? (^) Do you imagine 
it would have any effect on the tragedy if she should give it ? 

SCENE IV. 

1. (a) Do you find yourself less interested in the revelation of 
the ghost on account of the interruption caused by the last two 
scenes? (3) Again, how does the stage seem, cheerful or the 
reverse ? Is the effect in any manner intensified by associations 
from Scene 1? (c) Does the stage direction following 1. 6 weaken 
the effect? Does it raise the King in your estimation? (d) Do 
you realize more or less than before that there are two factions 
in this court? With which faction do you ally yourself? (e) 
How do 11. 1-2 contribute to an appreciation of the time and 
place and situation? 

2. (a) Are these men at all concerned about what is to occur?" 
Why do they not now talk about it? {d) Why does Hamlet ask 
1. 3 ? (c) From his next words, is Hamlet or Horatio the more 
self-possessed? {d) From 1. 7, has Horatio taken a prominent 
part in the court festivities of late? Why? (e) Do you find it 
easy to follow 11. 23-38? Where is the sentence begun in 11. 23-24 
completed? (/) Have you before this seen Hamlet find it dif- 
ficult to express himself? Why, then, this sentence? 



HAMLE T 9 

3. {a) Do you see any dramatic purpose in this confused phi- 
losophizing? Would it not be more impressive for the ghost to 
appear after 1. 6, and why ? (^) Does or does not first sight of 
the ghost remove all Hamlet's doubts about its supernatural 
character? (c) Is Hamlet right in yet having doubts as to this 
being his father's spirit? Why? (d) Why does Hamlet say 
1. 39? {£) Why should the question of merely speaking to an ap- 
parition be thought so serious by both Horatio and Hamlet? 
(/)Why did Horatio speak? Why does Hamlet? Why did 
not Marcellus and Bernardo? (^) Now that Hamlet speaks, 
why does the ghost, which from the beginning has come for this 
only, wait so long before even moving in reply? 

4. {a) When the ghost beckons, why does not Hamlet go at 
once? What does he wait for? (d) Why do both Marcellus 
and Horatio speak as in 1. 62? (c) Why does Hamlet come to 
the decision announced in 1. 63? (d) Do 11. 64-68 indicate that 
Hamlet thoroughly understands the danger of his action ? U) 
Does Horatio in 11. 69-78 add anything to what Hamlet has just 
said? (/) To whom does Hamlet say 1. 78 ? {£) Does Ham- 
let's simple expression in 11. 63, 68, and 79 indicate decision or 
indecision here ? 

5. (7) Why does even Marcellus now venture to speak as in 
1. 80 and to act as Hamlet's next words show he does ? (i) What 
act accompanies Horatio's words, 1. 81? (c) What does /e/s 
mean, 1. 85? (d) What action in 11. 81-86? {e) Why does 
not Hamlet speak more strongly in the last half of 1. 86? (/) 
Have you pictured Horatio to yourself as strong or weak phys- 
ically? What is the profession of Marcellus? (^) Is Hamlet 
a weakling ? 

6. (a) Was it Hamlet's mental, moral, or physical strength 
that was first shown us? Where was this? (i>) Which next, 
and where? (c) Which last? {d) What is your recollection of 
the order common in the modern novel? (e) Which order do 
you find most impresses you, and why ? (/) After the ghost 
and Hamlet have left, do Horatio and Marcellus seem com- 
posed? 



10 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

SCENE V. 

1. (a) At the close of Scene IV., might an audience after all 
think Hamlet reckless in his conduct? (d) Do you see any pur- 
pose in 1. I of Scene v.? (<?) At the end of Scene IV., which was 
subordinated to the other, Hamlet or the ghost? (d) After 1. i 
of Scene v. which is subordinated to the other? (g) Under the 
circumstances, did you expect such a line even from Hamlet? 

2. (a) Why is it that Hamlet will go no further ? (d) Why 
does not Hamlet say 'poor /ai/ter' instead,!, 4? {c) Why is 
Hamlet "bound to hear" ? {d ) Why should the ghost need to say 
1. 9? (e) What is the significance of " for a certain term," 1. 10? 

3. (a) What is the purpose of all the ghost says in 11. 2-23 ? 

(d) What, evidently, is the importance to the play of the ghost's 
words in 11. 25-40? (c) Do you find the language used impress- 
ive ? Do you understand why Shakespeare used to take this part 
himself? (d) When did Hamlet first divine the substance of 
the ghost's revelation ? Why does Hamlet say 11. 8 and 26 ? 

(e) Do you see evidence of any change in Hamlet's attitude 
toward the ghost with 1. 7? 

4. (a) From 11. 76-80 does it seem that Hamlet's father has 
lived an unusually sinful life ? {i>) Why must he suffer punish- 
ment ? (c) Would it not be more appropriate to have a saved 
spirit thus urge revenge? Why? {d) How does the manner of 
the ghost's disappearance affect the revelation? 

5. (a) With all the ghost's abhorrence of what has been done 
and eagerness to be revenged, yet what two restrictions does 
even he think must be placed upon Hamlet? (d) When the 
ghost leaves, what is Hamlet's mood at first, disgust at the foul 
crime committed, or eagerness for revenge ? Would anything 
else be consistent with such love as Hamlet's for his father ? 
(c) What is Hamlet's thought in "And shall I couple hell ? " 
i'd) Is it, as some have thought, dislike of the task imposed upon 
him that makes Hamlet say 11. 94-95 ? (e) With " Remember 
thee," 1.95, comes what natural change of mood? (/) What 
mood again in 11. 105-110? (g) In 11. 110-112 ? 



HAMLET 11 

6. (a) With what in Macbeth would you compare in effect the 
shouting now heard within ? {b) Is it possible for such tension 
as Hamlet's now to continue? [c] When this tension is relieved, 
do you expect to find Hamlet at once perfectly normal ? {d) 
Do you understand Hamlet's seeming levity and irreverence later 
in the scene? (<?) Does this weaken the effect of the tension 
preceding ? 

7. {a) What would you think of Hamlet if he should now at 
once tell Horatio and Marcellus what the ghost would not tell 
them ? (fi') What confidence would you have in his ability to ex- 
ecute his mission ? {c) When Hamlet says "O, wonderful," has 
he any notion of telling them? {d) What means does Hamlet 
take effectually to evade all questioning ? (^) Is there anything 
in his real state of mind here that suggests this line of action to 
him? (/) Is there anything in his experiences of the night that 
would make them more readily understand so sudden a change 
in him? (^) Do you recall any words of Horatio's that show 
such a change would not be unexpected? 

8. (a) Why does Hamlet exact the oath from his companions 
not to disclose even so much as they know themselves? {b) 
Why did the ghost in the first place appear to them at all? 
{c) Why does the ghost now speak ? [d) What effect on Hora- 
tio and Marcellus from hearing the ghost for the first time ? Do 
they hesitate after this at even the solemn form of oath Hamlet 
requires ? {e) What is Hamlet's meaning in 1. 165 ? 

9. {a) Now that Horatio and Marcellus consent to take any 
oath that Hamlet may propose, do you find him talking so in- 
sanely in 11. 1 65-181 ? {b) Does, or does not the oath seem skil- 
fully worded to cover every possibility of betrayal? {c) Now 
that these men, who have already shown their honesty, have 
committed themselves to Hamlet's side, how do 11. 171-172 atone 
even for the slight wrong of his deception at first? {d) From 
1. 183, has Hamlet really been as unsympathetic as he may have 
seemed ? {e) What action accompanies 1. 191 ? 

10 {a) In Scene ri., why does not Hamlet say 11. 252-253 at 
once, in place of 1. 212? Do you find him a man who acts first 
and then investigates, or is his way to investigate first and then 



12 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

to act ? (i) Does Hamlet's long silence and waiting after the 
ghost first beckons, Scene i v., 11. 58-62, indicate that excitement 
is likely to make him lose control of himself and lead to a re- 
versal of this order? (c) Does 1. i of Scene v. show that Ham- 
let despises due caution? Is this line inconsistent with 11, 64-68 
of Scene IV. ? 

11. (a) Reading again 11. 41, 46-49, and 127 of Scene I. and 11. 
39-44 of Scene IV., what do both Horatio and Hamlet think this 
ghost may be ? {i>) Is Hamlet a man likely to feel his respon- 
sibility as both judge and executioner, and here also investigate 
further before acting, or do you expect him to kill the King on 
sight ? (c) Would the latter course taint such a man's mind ? 
id) In what circumstances would it place the Queen ? 

12. (a) Is there another possible motive Denmark might sus- 
pect for such a deed ? (3) How would the evidence upon which 
Hamlet had acted seem when brought forward to clear him ? (c) 
Would Hamlet consent to live at all with such a name ? (d) Do 
you think it likely that Hamlet will seek some sort of evidence 
to corroborate the ghost's testimony ? (e) In those days before 
chemistry could assist, would such evidence be easy to secure ? 
(/) Can you imagine what Hamlet is thinking of when he speaks 
of the possibility of assuming his "antic disposition" hereafter? 
Does this supply any clue to the method he may follow? {^) 
When Hamlet's proof is conclusive, from what you have seen 
of him do you think he will neglect his revenge ? 



ACT II. 

SCENE I. 

1. (a) With what preceding scene is this connected? {l>) 
Does this act begin on the day following the night that ended 
Act I.? How does Shakespeare at once cause us to identify with 
sufficient definiteness the time that has elapsed ? {c) Whose ad- 
vice will Reynaldo be following when he acts marvellous wisely ? 
{d) What hint of Laertes' character in this advice? What hint 
of Polonius' character ? (<?) What hint of Laertes' character in 
Reynaldo's words, 1. 5 ? 

2. (a) Do you think Reynaldo is surprised to hear Polonius say 
^1- 3~5 '•' i^) Do you think II. 6-15 will be of much use to Rey- 
naldo ? (c) If Polonius should select one trait to praise himself 
for, what do you think it would be ? {d) Do such lines as 1. 17 
give any hint of Polonius' notion of how the rest of mankind 
compare with him in this respect ? {e) Do you imagine that any 
look of Reynaldo leads Polonius to say 11. 20-24 ? 

3. (a) In carrying out Polonius' command, why does Reynaldo 
ask advice in 1. 24 ? (d) What is shown us of Polonius' character 
in 11. 25-26 ? (<r) What would most lords do if their servants 
should essay to instruct them in honor ? Why is it that Rey- 
naldo does this, 1. 27 ? (d) What is the distinction that Polonius 
makes between honor and dishonor in 11. 28-35 ? 

4. (a) How is it that Polonius understands Reynaldo before he 
speaks, 11. 35-36? ((5) What is Reynaldo's mood in 11. 36-37 ? (c) 
What hint of the character of Polonius in 11. 36-48? (d) In 11_ 
49-51? (e) From these lines, what, apparently, is his concern 
for Laertes ? 

5. (a) From the last three words of 1. 52, how well does Rey- 
naldo seem to have followed Polonius? (d) From 1, 63, what is the 
nature of the information Polonius expects to secure? (c) How 



14 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

does Polonius classify himself in 1. 64? (d) What is the cause 
of Polonius' uncertainty in 1. 68? [e) After all that is assumed 
to be true has been discovered, what means does Polonius pro- 
pose for reforming- Laertes, 11. 71-73? (/) What is the motive 
of Polonius in having all these inquiries made? (^) Have you 
ever before found Shakespeare quite so rough with a character 
as here with Polonius? {A) What do you think is here the 
purpose? 

6. (a) From 1. 107, what does Polonius remember of his com- 
mand to Ophelia? (d) Yet what do 11. 108-110 show to have 
been the effect of this command? (<;) Who has suffered most 
from the command, Hamlet or Ophelia? {d) What cause in 
character for this ? (<?) What additional cause in circumstances ? 

7. (a) What led Hamlet thus to seek out Ophelia in her room? 
{d) What was his mood, as shown by 11. 77-84? (c) What, ap- 
parently, most influenced Ophelia here, her own love, sorrow for 
Hamlet, or distress at his attire? (d) What does Ophelia say 
was her nlood, 1. 75 ? {e) What would this tell Hamlet of the 
depth of her nature ? 

8. {a) What does Hamlet try to learn, and how does he 
succeed, as told us in 11. 87-100? {i) Explain in detail what his 
actions here mean. 

9. (a) How does Polonius account for his mistake, as he 
wishes Ophelia to think it, 11. 114-117? (d) Why did Ophelia 
come at once to her father after seeing Hamlet? {c) What does 
Polonius now propose to do, 1. loi ? (d) What do you take to 
be his motive in this? (e) How is Hamlet's disguise succeeding? 
from 1. no? 

SCENE II. 

I. {a) Was Horatio in Denmark when Hamlet's father died? 
Does it seem that Hamlet was? (d) Was there anything pecu- 
liar about the succession to the throne? (c) Why, probably, 
does the King say 11. 108-109 of Act I., Scene 11,? (d) Has the 
King probably forgotten the murder of his brother? (e) Why is 
it that the King here, Act II., Scene il., 11. 7-8, suspects some 
further cause for Hamlet's madness? (/) Why should the King 



HAMLET 15 

take such interest in finding out about this? {g) What of the 
truth of the sentence ending with 1. lo? 

2. ia) From 11. 26-32, does it seem that Rosencrantz and Guild- 
enstern accept their commission through anxiety to aid Hamlet 
or to win favor with the King and Queen? (/;) Are Rosencrantz 
and Guildenstern deceived by 1. 18? {c) What, stated plainly, 
is the nature of the service the King asks of them? [d) What 
has been the nature of their relations with Hamlet? {e) What 
do you think of their being flattered by the King's choice of 
them? 

3. {a) What illustration of the tone of the court in 11. 33-34? 
(b) How does Hamlet relish such exhibitions? {c) Does the 
King invite a continuance of this interview by 1. 33? (d) What 
do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern probably do? {e) Then why 
does the Queen say I.34? And why 11. 35-36? And why 11. 36- 
37? kf) What do you think of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern 
by this time? {g) How smcere does 1. 2 seem to be? {k) 
What of the sincerity of 11. 38-39? (,i) Do you imagine any other 
motive than the personality of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern 
that makes the King and Queen wish to be rid of them? {j) 
What impression do you get of this court? {k) Do you under- 
stand why Fortinbras became restive? 

4. {a) How did Ophelia leave the stage in Scene i. (see 11. loi 
and 117-118)? Where was she going and for what purpose? 
{b) Why is she now not with Polonius? (c) How does this af- 
fect our impression of her? [d) What should Polonius do after 
1. 42 ? What does he do, 11. 43-45 ? {e) Do you find anything 
significant in the last four words of 1. 46? 

5. {2) What is Polonius' manner in 11. 51-52? {b) What the 
King's in 1. 53? {c) In 11. 54-55? {d) Why the "your" in 1. 55? 
{e) Do you find evidence of refinement and delicate sensibilities 
or the reverse in 11. 56-57? (/) What is the King's attitude to- 
ward himself in 1. 58? 

6. {a) How is Fortinbras further characterized in 11. 68-71 ? 
(b) If Claudius had sent to Fortinbras instead, what would have 
been the result ? (r) Which do you take to have been the more 
acceptable to Fortinbras, what is told us in 1. 73 or the permis- 



16 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

sion mentioned in 11. 74-75? {d) If Hamlet were king in Den- 
mark, do you imagine Voltimand and Cornelius would have 
been sent? {e) Do you imagine Fortinbras would then have se- 
lected Denmark in the first place as the country against which to 
make war? 

7. {a) Does 1. 84 remind you of anything earlier in the play? 
(d) What do the first words of Polonius, 1. 85, indicate as to his 
readiness to begin? (c) Do 11. 85-91 cause us to believe the 
first four words of 1. 92? {d) Do 11. 92-94 fulfill the promise of 
these words? (e) From the first four words of 1. 95, does it 
seem Polonius is chiefly concerned about the matter of his re- 
port or the manner in which it is given ? (/) Do you take 11. 
86-92 to be wholly extempore? {£■) What is Polonius' air in 

I. 105? (/«) What characteristic shown in 1. 106? In the inter- 
ruption, 11, 111-112? 

8. (a) What evidence have you as to when this letter was 
written? (d) Does it seriously disturb the comedy of this 
scene? {c) Do you think Hamlet was self-possessed and at his 
best in Ophelia's closet ? (d) If Hamlet should write to Horatio^ 
do you think he could equal this? (<?) What of the sincerity of 
Hamlet's " tenders " ? 

9. (a) What is the motive of Polonius in 11. 107 and 125 ? (d) 
Do you believe 11. 126-128? (c) What is Polonius' manner in 

II. 129 and 131 ? Is he surprised at the King's answer, 1. 130 ? (d) 
What of the figure in 1. 132? (e) How was it really that Polo- 
nius "perceived jt," 1. 133? 

10. (a) Have you observed the mourning Polonius mentions 
in 1. 151? {d) In the manner of the King and Queen, for ex- 
ample in 11. 128-129 and 1 51-152, do you find the indignation 
Polonius assumes would be natural? {c) What does 1. 162 show 
of Polonius' respect for Ophelia? (d) Is the business Polonius 
proposes suitable for a king? (,?) How does it seem to Claudius? 
(/) What is the Queen's mood, now that she sees Hamlet? 
Do the others share it? 

11. (a) In 11. 169-170, what does Polonius assurr^e about the 
relative ability of the three in dealing with Hamlet ? (d) What 
is the manner of 1. 173? {c) Of 1. 175? (d) Of 1. 177? (e) Of 
1. 180? (/) Of 1. 183? 



HAMLET 17 

12. (a) Does, or does not, Hamlet understand Polonius' theory? 
{b) Does he encourage or discourage Polonius in it? {c) When 
Polonius, in 1. igi, and the lines following, insists on continuing 
the interview, what does Hamlet next attempt? {d) Is he suc- 
cessful? (i?) How is it that Hamlet thinks of details so readily 
in 11. 196-200? (/) Is Polonius likely to perceive this? May 
11. 202-203 be intended to help him? Are these lines, after all, 
sufficient? (^) Do you detect insanity in 1. 218? 

13. [a) May there be any truth in 11. 215-216? (b) Do you un- 
derstand why Hamlet walks "four hours together?" (,c) Is his 
task easy of accomplishment? {d) Do you take him to be a 
man who would become complacent and self-satisfied with 
such success, for example, as so far in merely deceiving the 
court? ((?) What character in the play may be given in part for 
the sake of contrast in this respect? And who would be placed 
next to this character? (/) If you could now see Hamlet in his 
true character, would you expect to find him calm or full of self- 
reproach ? (_£■) If there is any truth in the words last referred 
to, would you understand that Hamlet would welcome death 
while Claudius lives and with the crime neither proved nor dis- 
proved? {h) What may Hamlet be thinking of? 

14. {a) When, on leaving the stage, Polonius meets Rosen- 
crantz and Guildenstern, is he as prolix as usual? Do you think 
him unwilling to turn Hamlet over to them? [b) What work are 
they here about? {c) Does Polonius understand this? {d) From 
Hamlet's first words to them, do they seem more or less likely 
to succeed than Polonius? 

15. {a) Is it possible that these friends of Hamlet, like Polo- 
nius, have a theory in explanation of the madness? {b) Know- 
ing the circumstances as they do, is it unlikely that the King's 
theory is also theirs? [c) If this is their explanation, how will 
they probably try to lead Hamlet to declare himself? {d) If 
Hamlet's aspirations have really been balked in this manner, is 
there any chance to say so in replying to 11. 227-228? (e) Where 
is the next invitation given him to make known his discontent? 

16. (a) What do you think Hamlet means by "your news is 
not true"? {b) Why does Hamlet then say the rest of this par- 



18 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

agraph? (c) Do you find Hamlet here slow or obtuse? (d) 
Why is Hamlet's question not answered ? Do you think he notes 
this? (e) In what direction does Guildenstern carry the conver- 
sation ? (/) What does Rosencrantz think he will accomplish 
by 11. 248-249? (g) In 11. 250-252, 259-261, and 263-265, what 
indications that Hamlet's lucid interval is unlikely to continue ? 

17. {a) In 11. 265-266, does Hamlet seem to remember that he 
has asked this question before? (i^) Now that further evasion 
is impossible, does the answer of Rosencrantz leave any doubts 
in Hamlet's mind? {c) Is Hamlet's next line complimentary? 
{d} In 11. 270-272, as in 11. 279-284, what does it seem Hamlet 
thinks may yet be possible? What end to this interview would 
he distinctly perfer? [e) Why does Hamlet say 1. 272? 

18. (a) Do you find any irony in 11. 274-277? (d) How does 
Hamlet feel about having his friends try to betray him ? {c) Do 
we think now they are likely to succeed? (d) If Hamlet were 
not distinctly their superior, could he here dare to risk so much 
for them? (e) With what grace does 1. 288 finally come? 

ig, {a) What does Hamlet now assume, 11. 290-291, as to the 
definiteness of their choice of sides ? (d) What is his purpose 
in the rest of this paragraph ? (c) Why was it, in reality, that 
Rosencrantz smiled? (d) What impression does Hamlet wish 
to give Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in 11. 313-319? (<?) What 
purpose in the structure of the play is served by II. 319-354? 
(/) What happened about the time of the production of this 
play that would make Shakespeare's audience understand these 
circumstances ? 

20. {a) What do you take to be the significance of 11. 355- 
359? (d) Why does Hamlet now insist on the "fashion and cer- 
emony " of welcome ? {c) How are such expressions as II. 366- 
367 contain accounted for by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? 
(d) What impression of Hamlet's conduct throughout the inter- 
view is likely to be left with them? And why does he say II. 369 
-370 ? 

21. (a) What does Hamlet know that makes him so harsh 
with Polonius? (d) How did he find it out? [c) Is Polonius 
sensitive? If he were, would Hamlet's conduct be the same? 



HAMLET 19 

(d) Why the sudden change of subject in Hamlet's second 
speech after Polonius enters? {e) What does Hamlet imply in 
11. 379, 380? (/) Does Polonius see this? {£■) Then why 1. 382? 
(/») What would "the first row of the pious chanson" show 
Polonius? 

22. {a) What, as it seems, brought Hamlet to Denmark? 
Where was he before? (d) How have these actors changed so 
much since Hamlet saw them? (c) What does Hamlet mean 
by "beard me," 1. 411? {d) What effect would the valanced 
face have on the actor's playing? (e) Why should the lady- 
ship's voice be cracked? (/) Is it apparently the First Player 
or other chief members of the troupe that Hamlet especially 
welcomes? {£■) What indication of character in this? 

23. (a) Do you or do you not find the language of 11. 421-431 to 
show discriminating appreciation of the stage? {d) How often 
has Hamlet heard this "speech" ? {c) Is there any evidence as 
to appreciation in his remembering it? (d) What reasons would 
you give for 11. 172-530 being in prose? {e) What would be the 
effect if this "speech," too, were in prose? 

24. (a) Put in prose the first two lines of the "speech." (^) 
Do you find the "speech" up to Shakespeare's usual level? If 
not. why has he not made it so? (c) Has Polonius anywhere 
in the play flattered Hamlet as he does the King and Queen ? 
(d) Why does he say 11. 452, 453? (<?) Do you imagine any 
weakness would be noted if Hamlet should take a part in a 
play ? 

25. (a) How does Hamlet classify Polonius in 11. 485-487? 
(d) What does Polonius try to accomplish in 1. 490? (c) What 
would be the effect on the audience of leaving out these inter- 
ruptions by Polonius and Hamlet? {d) Is the pity of Polonius 
well bestowed in 11. 505, 506? (e) Do you think Polonius capable 
of saying 11. 515-517? 

26. {a) From 11. 528, 529, do you find Hamlet after all malicious 
in his conduct toward Polonius? {d) To whom does Hamlet 
say 11. 529, 530? (c) Why does he say this? (d) Does this indi- 
cate that Hamlet has been merely amusing himself with the 



1 



20 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

players, and has for even this time forgotten the work before 
him? 

27. (a) What is Hamlet's mood in 1. 534? (^) Has he dis- 
guised it satisfactorily earlier in this scene? (c) Is any strength 
exerted in seeming as in 11. 172-532 while really in the mood of 
this soliloquy ? 

28. {a) Have you found Hamlet a "rogue"? (d) Has he 
seemed likely to be mistaken for a "peasant slave"? (c) 
Have you found Hamlet the coward he represents himself in 
11.556-566? (d) Do you think him here an unbiassed critic of 
himself? (e) Is it your impression that a Greek could have ex- 
perienced this mood to this degree? Could a Frenchman? (/) 
Account for any difference between them and Hamlet in this. 
(g-) Would Polonius be likely to experience this mood? If noti 
account for the difference here also. 

29. {a) Was Hamlet or was he not deeply impressed by the 
appearance and revelation of the Ghost? (3) Do 11. 566-574 indi- 
cate that Hamlet is muddy-mettled and unpregnant of his 
cause? (c) Do 11. 575-585 indicate that Hamlet lets opportuni- 
ties goby that would contribute to his purposes? {d) Would 
what is proposed in 11. 581-583 be likely to cause a guilty man to 
blench? (e) Would the manner in which the play is acted have 
anything to do with its success? (/) What may Hamlet have 
had in mind in 11. 418, 41Q? Why "a passionate speech "? Why 
1. 487? (^) Why "'Tis well," 1. 507? Have the words of PoIq- 
nius, 11. 505, 506, anything to do with the effect upon the audience 
here? 

30. {a) Is there justification for 11. 585-590? Sum up the 
evidence concerning this earlier in the play, (d) Are, or are 
not, 11. 590, 591 in harmony with Hamlet's character as you un- 
derstand it? Sum up the evidence here also, (c) Has Hamlet 
any other possibility of securing evidence than that given in 
1 592? Do you imagine this King's conscience easily caught? 

31. (a) Why does Act II. end here? (d) What was the work 
of Act I.? 



ACT III. 

SCENE I. 

1. (a) Is the Kinpf pleased or displeased with the report 
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern seem to have made? (d) Has 
there been anything turbulent or dangerous about Hamlet's lu- 
nacy? Why does the King say there has? [c) Is the ''confes- 
sion" extorted from Hamlet, 1. 5, satisfactory? What had the 
King instructed Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find out? 

2. (a) Why is it not the King who asks 11. 10 and 14, 15?' (d) 
Do you observe the 'forcing of Hamlet's disposition' more 
clearly in II., ii., 223-225 or in II., ir., 529, 530? Explain, (c) Can 
you give an explanation of "niggard of question " that corres- 
ponds with the facts? 

3. (a) How do you account for the " kind of joy to hear of it," 
11. 18,19? i^) Does this confirm 11. 552,553 of the preceding 
scene ? (c) When did Hamlet beseech Polonius, as stated in 
1.22? (d) What word has chief emphasis in 1. 25? (<?) Why is 
the King so enthusiastic in 11. 24-27, and why does he say 11. 26, 
27? (/) Do you think the "good gentlemen " will succeed in 
the mission they accept in 1. 28? 

4. {a) Why does the King say lawful, 1. 32? {b) What 
word has chief stress in 1. 39? (^) What do 11. 37-42 contribute 
to an understanding of I., III., 19-24 and II , 11., 131-142? {d) 
What is the manner of Polonius toward Ophelia in 11. 43, 44? 

5. ((2) Do you admire the figure in 11. 48, 49? {b) Critics have 
found fault with Shakespeare for using it. Are they right? (<:> 
What evidence as to the sincerity of Polonius in 11. 46-49? {d) 
Of what earlier in the play do these lines remind you? 

6. {a) What new revelation of the King's character and mood 
in 11, 49-54? {b) Why must this be given to us here? 

7. {a) What are the King, Polonius, and Ophelia doing when 
Hamlet enters? {b) How does their present occupation affeCc 



22 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

our impression of them? And how, in particular, does the 
King's action here affect any sympathy for him that may have 
been elicited by 11. 49-54? 

8. (a) Do you recall any evidence earlier in the play as to 
whether Hamlet is familiar with this mood? {d) Explain just 
why it is that Hamlet thinks of suicide? Would it be before or 
after taking the King's life that he would take his own? (c) 
How much does Hamlet expect of the play in II., 11., 583-585? 
Does he expect it to prove io the world that his father was mur- 
dered, and that Claudius was the murderer? {d) Do or do not 
11. 46-54 lead you to think that the King may "blench"? (^) 
Then, if Hamlet knows his course and acts upon this knowledge, 
in what light will he be regarded by Denmark and the world? 
(/) If he takes his own life after slaying the King how will his 
name be affected? (g) Which course do you think Hamlet 
would prefer? 

9. {a) Upon what ground does Hamlet at once put the ques- 
tion in 1. 57? {U) Would this line seem in place if spoken by 
any other of Shakespeare's characters as you know them? If 
not, why may Hamlet be permitted to speak as here ? 

10. {a) What in Hamlet's time was the one belief as to the fate 
of the suicide in the future world ? (b) Do 11. 60-64 express the 
ancient or the Christian philosophy? What of 11. 65-68? {c) It 
has been thought that Hamlet fears he will be slain by the 
guards if he shall kill the king. Does this soliloquy support that 
view? 

11. {a) Is Hamlet more or less likely to be taken off his guard 
by Ophelia than by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ? {b) Does 
his mood now seem one that will make him quick to detect 
a plot such as Polonius has devised? {c) Are 11. 88-go, oris any 
part of them, spoken to Ophelia? [d) What do these lines in- 
dicate as to the genuineness of his love for her? 

12. {a) Has Ophelia been about the castle of late? {b) Where 
and how did Hamlet last see her? {c) Did she then speak to 
Hamlet? Why? (^) Did Hamlet seem to understand the cir- 
cumstances? {e) Why has Hamlet since been so rough with 
Polonius, for example in II., 11., 181-186? 



HAMLET 23 

13. (a) What would Hamlet naturally expect Ophelia to do 
here, now that she sees him? Does he expect her to speak? 
{d) What was the King's last move in his espionage of Hamlet? 
{c) Has Ophelia shown character that will prevent her partici- 
pating in work of the sort? (d) What do II. 90, 91 assume as to 
Hamlet's conduct toward Ophelia? How true is this assump- 
tion? What is there remarkable in Ophelia's saying these lines 
at all? 

14 (a) Of what is Hamlet thinking as he says 1. 92? (d) Do 
you think Hamlet meant I., v., 97-104 ? How has he adhered to 
the resolution there expressed ? (c) Why was Ophelia to "read 
on this book"? Was Hamlet to suspect that she thought of 
seeing him? (d) Had Polonius intended she should bring these 
*' remembrances "? Why does she do this? [e) Why does Ham- 
let speak as in 11. 95, 96 ? And what truth is there in these lines ? 

15. (a) Has Hamlet ' proved unkind'? (d) Why does he now 
say 1. 103? (c) Is the "insanity" of 11. 103-119 for Ophelia alone? 
{d) What proofs does the time now give this paradox, 1. 114? 
(e) What truth in 11. 114, 115, and what in 1. 119? 

16. (a) What is Ophelia's mood in 1. 120? (d) In the contest 
now on in Denmark, what must be Ophelia's fate ? {c) Does 
Hamlet think of a happy, quiet life as a possibility for himself 
under any circumstances? What does he realize as to this? 
{d) Even if it were possible that Ophelia should marry another, 
would Hamlet wish this ? (e) Why does Hamlet, in this " mad- 
ness ", so often speak as in 11. 121, 129, 137, 140, and 148, 149? (/) 
Is this, or is it not, good advice to Ophelia? 

17. (a) From 11. 129, 130 what does Hamlet now know as to Polo- 
nius? (d) Why does Hamlet ask? (c) Do you find any parallel 
in this and II., 11., 279-284? {d) What is the result in each 
case ? (1?) When, in Hamlet's life, has he been most in need of 
companionship? To whom has he first turned? With what 
result? 

18. (a) Is Hamlet more, or less, harsh with Ophelia in 11. 132, 
133? Why? (^ ) Are these lines said to her alone ? (c) Why 
does he now say " Farewell," and what does he mean by this? 
(d) Is it more, or less, strongly that he now insists that she shall 
go to a nunnery ? Why ? 



M ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

19. {a) What first shows Ophelia the hopelessness of Hamlet's 
insanity? (d) Have you ever found Hamlet so 'insane' as here? 
Why is this? Is there any kindness about it? 

20. (a) What do 11. 150-161 show as to the sincerity of Ophe- 
lia's love for Hamlet? {d) What do these lines show as to Ham- 
let's character before his father's death? Was he then known 
as gloomy or morose ? (c) What indication here as to the depth 
of Ophelia's character, and the relative influence of Polonius 
and Hamlet over her? Will she, after all, go to a nunnery? 
Could Hamlet do more to cause her to do this ? (^) What is 
'.here in the nature of each that explains this love? 

21. (a) Does the King dare to proceed openly against Ham- 
let? Why should this be? (i) Do you think Hamlet under- 
stands this, and how should he? (c) If the King hears 11. 147, 
148, why will it not defeat Hamlet's purposes ? {d) Do you think 
the courtiers you have seen are all there is of Denmark ? What 
hints has Shakespeare given as to this ? 

22. (a) What is there, aside from Hamlet's words, that makes 
the King so ready to suspect as in 11. 164-167? (d) From the 
King's words and conduct heretofore, do you think he states his 
real motive in II. 171-175 ? If not, what do you take to be his pur- 
pose in sending Hamlet to England ? (c) Why does Polonius say 
II. 176-178? And why does he now propose the meeting with 
the Queen? {d) How has this scene affected your impression 
of Ophelia? 

SCENE II. 

1. (a) What is Hamlet's purpose in having the players come 
to him at this time? (($>) If he should not see them and impress 
upon them the necessity for perfect acting, how might his plans 
be defeated? (c) In thus instructing the actors in their own art, 
do you find that Hamlet blunders anywhere? {d) Is it possible 
to add much of worth to the philosophy of the drama given in 
II. 1-32 ? 

2. (a) In 11. 1-41, upon what particulars does Hamlet specially 
insist, and for what immediate reasons? (d) Do you imagine 
this talk will in any way affect the acting of the play in hand ? 
(c) Why is Hamlet so abrupt with everybody in 11. 41-45 ? Why 



does he not now amuse himself with Polonius and the rest? {d) 
What contrast of mood in 11. 42, 43? (e) What is Hamlet's real 
purpose in 1. 45? 

3. (a) What contrast in 11. 49, 50 and I., 11., 161, and what in 
1. 72, and I., v., 1 17-124? (d) How do you account for this? 

4. (a) Under ordinary circumstances, would Hamlet ever 
speak as in U. 49, 50? if not, how do you explain his impulse to 
this direct statement here? (1^) Does Hamlet now expect ever 
to be able to testify in deeds to his friendship for Horatio? 
What seems to be Hamlet's notion of the course events will take 
in Denmark? (c) In 1. 51, is it because Hamlet is a prince that 
Horatio is flattered? If not, why is it? (d) If Horatio were 
permitted to continue, what would he say? (e) Why does Ham- 
let prevent this? 

5. (a) A moment before, would Hamlet himself have thought 
it possible for him to speak as in 11. 57-69? (d) Why does he 
say the last five words of 1. 69? And why are 11. 70-82 so differ- 
ent m tone? (r) What evidence in 11. 69-82 as to the sincerity 
of the lines preceding? (d) Do you recall anywhere in litera- 
ture so direct, strong, and quiet an expression of friendship as 
here? (1?) In 11. 49-82, do you find Hamlet sensitive or obtuse 
( "muddy-mettled" )? 

6. {a) What does Hamlet show us of his ideals in 11. 55-57 
and 63-69? (d) How do these lines, and especially 11. 65, 66, 
contribute to an understanding of Hamlet's own character, and 
why is it not unpermissible so to interpret them? (c) Why does 
Hamlet add 11. 73-75 and 81, 82 to 1. 80, and how is this charac- 
teristic of him ? (d) What would you say of the evidence as to 
a tendency to procrastinate in 11. 41-47, 51, and 79-86? {e) If 
you think Shakespeare has been misunderstood, do you think it 
Shakespeare's fault? 

7. (a) Is it because Hamlet and Horatio have forgotten 11. 49- 
69, or why is it, that neither one afterwards, even by his man- 
ner, seems to recall the words? (d) What is the significance of 
02ir and cousin, 1. 87? {c) What theory of the King's does Ham- 
let encourage by 11. 88,89? {^) How does Hamlet encourage 
Polonius by 1. 103? (<?) And how does he support the Queen's 
theory by 11. T09, no? 



26 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

8. (a) Why does Hamlet thus at all times confirm each in his 
own theory? (d) Does the King dare to take Hamlet's life? 
Why? (c) If the King should attempt it, do you or does Ham- 
let think he would be successful ? Why? {d) What would be 
the result to the King himself and to Hamlet if such an attempt 
should be made? (e) Is or is not Hamlet reckless? Does he 
think the attempt will be made ? 

g. (a) Has Hamlet's "insanity" tended to make the King 
and Queen comfortable when the dumb-show enters? (d) Do 
they find this dumb-show a pleasing spectacle ? Which is the 
more disturbed by it and why? (c) Do you think either Hamlet 
or Horatio here sees the King "blench"? Considering the 
King's mood as betrayed in III., i., 49-54, does it seem that he 
here exercises any self-control ? 

10. (a) Why does Shakespeare permit the play of Gonzago 
to be in rhyme ? (i) What criticism would you make on 11. 138- 
143? Why has Shakespeare not made these lines better? (c) Is 
the rest of the play as bad as this ? If you find any improve- 
ment, what is the purpose? (d) Does 1. 164 betray any theory 
of Hamlet's ? (e) For whom does Hamlet say 1. 207 ? Whom 
does this first part of the play touch most nearly? (/) Is the 
Queen grateful for 1. 212? Does 1. 214 make it more agreeable? 

11. (a) From 11. 215, 216, do you think the King marked the 
dumb-show? Do you think him eager to hear the rest of the 
play, with Hamlet's comment? (d) What does he mean by "of- 
fence" ? Is it wise for him to speak as here? Does or does not 
Hamlet find the words encouraging? (c) What, by this time, 
may the King expect Hamlet to say in answer to 1. 219? (d) 
What is Hamlet's real meaning in 1. 220? (e) If the King had 
not said 11. 215, 216, do you think Hamlet would have said 11. 223- 
225? Does Hamlet here speak for the King alone, or also to in- 
terpret to others present? 

12. (a) Did the King suspect in III., i., 49-54, or has he ever 
suspected, that his murder is known? (d) From this play and 
Hamlet's comments what does he now believe? (c) Would this 
make his conscience less sensitive? (d) Do you think the King 
a brave man? Is he now in the mood to display any courage he 
has? Why? 



HAMLET 27 

13. (a) In 11. 231-233, do you see, through Hamlet's 'insanity,' 
anything of his real mood? {/>) Why, in 11. 241, 242, does Hamlet 
insist upon "Gonzago" and "Italian"? Do you imagine there 
is now an understanding between him and the King? (c) Do 
you understand why the King rises and leaves the hall? (c/ ) Is 
it the words of the play that affect him to this degree? Why 
did he not leave when the dumb-show was playing? 

14. (a) What did Hamlet expect the effect upon the King 
would be? Why was the help of Horatio sought? {l>) How 
does the actual effect compare with Hamlet's expectations? ic) 
How must the court interpret the King's extraordinary behav- 
ior? (d) Do you imagine Hamlet now contemplates suicide as 
a possible necessity? (e) Why is Ophelia, rather than Hamlet, 
the tirst to speak? What does this indicate as to Hamlet's 
mood, and as to the attention the King has attracted? , 

15. {a) What does Hamlet wish to emphasize by 1. 245? For 
whom is the line intended, the King or the court? (d) Why 
does the King stop to call for /tg-Zii before he goes? And what 
does 1. 248 show of his mood? {c) What purpose, dramatically, 
is accomplished by the "all but" of the stage direction following 
1.249? 

16. How do you account for Hamlet's conduct in 11. 250-274, 
— why, for example, does he rhyme and call for recorders? 

17. (a) How long has it been since Rosencrantz and Guilden- 
stern left the hall? Do you think this a "free visitation " on 
their part? {d) Are they likely just now to have their way with 
Hamlet? (c) What is the cause of Hamlet's interest, 1. 279? 
(d) What effect was expected from 1. 280, and again from 1. 282? 
{e) Has either of ihese 'friends' ever before assumed such 
authority in Hamlet's presence as now in 11. ;86, 287? How do 
you explain their boldness here? (/") ^Vhat do these lines im- 
ply as to Hamlet's insanity? Why this assumption ? Will the 
King be quick to offer proofs? 

18. {a) If you or Hamlet were heretofore willing to overlook 
the conduct of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in serving the 
King, does their attitude now make any change in yours ? Why ? 
(d) What evidence have you as to the truth of II. 289, 290? 



28 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

(c) What, evidently, does Hamlet mean and Guildenstern under- 
stand by 1. 291? (d) Does Hamlet expect Rosencrantz and 
Guildenstern to believe 11. 298, 299? If not, why does he say his 
"wit's diseased "? 

ig. (a) Why is it not Guildenstern who replies? (d) What 
does Hamlet try to do in 1. 310? (c) What is the significance of 
Hamlet's oath, I. 312? (d) Why do not Rosencrantz and Guild- 
enstern believe Hamlet's direct statement (1. 316) in confirma- 
tion of what has up to this time been their own theory ? If they 
do believe it and tell it to the King, how will he receive the 
news? 

20. (a) Why do the players now re-enter? (d) What have 
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern really accomplished so far in the 
King's service? How has Hamlet made use of them? (c) Has 
Hamlet further use for them in mind ? Why, or why not? (d) 
What, then, does he give them to understand in 11. 321-347? 

21. (a) Why has Polonius tried to make himself agreeable to 
Hamlet, on Hamlet's account or the King's? (d) How has Ham- 
let made Polonius appear by 1. 357? (c) What is the significance 
of 1. 359 ? (d) Do you think Hamlet understood what Polonius 
had come for before he spoke ? 

22. (a) What instances do you recall of contrasts similar to 
11. 362, 363 earlier in the play? (d) Has Hamlet ever before 
spoken as in II. 365-367? Why? {c) What does Hamlet suspect 
about his mother that makes him even think of the "soul of 
Nero"? (d) What does Hamlet evidently intend to attempt in 
his mother's closet? 

SCENE III. 

I. (a) Who, according to their report, had sent Rosencrantz 
and Guildenstern to Hamlet? And to whom do they make their 
report of the interview? To whom does Polonius report? What 
does this show? (d) How has Hamlet's madness ranged, and 
why stands it now so unsafe with the King? (c) What is the 
court likely to " gather and surmise" from such continued agi 
tation as the King here showi ? (d) After 1. i, can Rosencrantz 
and Guildenstern deceive themselves into thinking they may 



HAMLET 29 

help Hamlet by serving the King? Have they, in fact, ever de- 
ceived themselves ? 

2. (a) Do you imagine the King will be glad to see Hamlet 
on his return from England? What do you take to be the King's 
real purpose in sending him? (/?) Do you think Rosencrantz and 
Guildenstern fail to understand the situation? (r) How does 
their eloquence in 11. 7-23 affect them and the King in your esti- 
mation? (d) Does the King pretend to motives of the sort 
they assume ? (c) What is the mood in 11. 24-26? 

3. (a) Where was the wise suggestion Polonius compliments 
in 11. 28-33 first made, and by whom ? (d) Why does Polonius 
here give the King credit for it ? {c) Has the King in this scene 
seemed eager for company ? (d) What further is shown of his 
mood now that he is alone ? What has caused this, or the degree 
of it ? (e) How strong is the King's moral nature shown to be? 

4. (a) Aside from the motives Hamlet later gives, would it 
be possible for him to act on the impulse of II. 73, 74 ? Why ? 
(d) Would an audience of Shakespeare's time or of our own 
enjoy seeing him so act? (c) What direct evidence has Hamlet 
had, evidence now in his mind, that the theology of 11. 74-79 and 
84-95 is sound? {(i) Do you think Hamlet means what he says 
here, or is he seeking to evade his mission ? (<?) What does the 
King think of Hamlet in this respect? (/) What work does 
the King go about on leaving the stage? 

SCENE IV. 

1. [a) What does Polonius think will nappen at the coming in- 
terview? {d) Do these opening lines of his appear to be the 
first things said, or has there been other conversation since he 
entered the Queen's closet? (c) Have you thought of the 
Oueen as on Hamlet's side hitherto? {d) Are you in full sym- 
pathy with Hamlet's present purpose to "be cruel," and "speak 
daggers," to his mother? 

2. (a) Why is Polonius now here, and exhorting the Queen — 
has she sent for him? (l?) Did the Queen apparently send also 
Polonius, in the second scene (1. 350), after dispatching Rosen- 
crantz and Guildenstern, to summon Hamlet? {c) Did the King 



30 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

ask Polonius to do the eavesdropping now intended? {d) Will 
Polonius' action or attitude here affect at all your feelings in 
regard to what befalls him? 

3. {a) Does Hamlet call " Mother " three times without wait- 
ing between? What evidence, and what 'effect '? {b) Explain 
why Hamlet is the first to speak, why the Queen, who summons, 
does not begin the interview? {c) Does Hamlet begin well by 
assuming there is nothing the matter on his side? {d) Do you 
find any 'effect' in the reserve of the Queen's answer? 

4. (a) What does the Queen mean by "idle," and Hamlet by 
"wicked," tongue? {b) What feeling prompts the Queen's next 
words? {c) To what feeling does the Queen next try to appeal? 
(^d) After Hamlet's answer, what movement does she apparently 
make, what does she intend? {e) What 'mood effect ' in this? 

5. (a) What does Hamlet now do? {b) What intention does 
he express in 11. 19, 20, and why here and now? {c) Is the 
Queen really afraid of Hamlet or merely pretending, when she 
calls for help? (^) Interpret the 'effect' herein, {e) Do you 
think if Polonius had not been listening, she would have been so 
sensitive to what has been implied in the talk thus far? (/) 
Why does Polonius cry out also, but not come to the rescue? 

6. {a) Can you explain why Hamlet now makes a pass 
through the arras? {b) Show proof whether he thought, or did 
not think, it was the King? {c) Does it argue "decision," or the 
lack of it? {d) What does this contribute to an understanding 
of the scene preceding? {e) What 'effect' in the Queen's sur- 
prise, as she echoes " kill a king " ? 

7. {a) Do you find yourself willing that Hamlet should be 
stern in making his mother realize her past? {b) Does it seem 
to you that the fact that Polonius' dead body lies before them 
makes any difference, and if so what difference? {c) Is the 
Queen in any different mood from that in 1. 17? {d) Why is 
Hamlet so evasive and round-about in his indictment? (<?) 
After the Queen pretends again that she does not understand, 
is Hamlet betrayed into curt and brutal directness? (/) Could 
the use of the two pictures have been spared or bettered? • 

8. id) After the Queen confesses she feels her guilt, do you 
wish Hamlet to go on? {b) Are you content that he should have 



HAMLET 31 

gone thus far? (c) Can you see any artistic reason why Shake- 
speare makes Hamlet go on, even against his mother's protest, 
till stopped by the ghost? {d) Do you find your feelings to- 
wards the Queen changed after the ghost pleads for her? 

g. (a) A moment ago the Queen was painfully subordinated 
to her son; how has the author now subordinated him to her? 
(^) Can you see any reason for this? {c) Do you think this a 
"subjective ghost"? (d) Do you think the fact of his pleading 
for the Queen is connected with the fact of his lingering, and 
glaring, while the Queen stands cold, unmoved? (e) Does the 
Queen know what Hamlet thinks he sees? 

10. (a) How is the complication, caused by introducing the- 
ghost, abated to the Queen's mind? (d) Do you find Hamlet's 
words (11. 142-153) as much to your mind as generally? (c) If 
doubtful whether the Queen should now still live with the King, 
do you find Hamlet's next exhortations practical and wise? (d) 
Is it possible Shakespeare abuses his hero a little here for his 
mother's sake? 

11. (2) Now that we consent that Hamlet's mother really share 
the throne again with the King, what does the author next 
(11. 179-194) attempt? {d) Will the Queen tell the King every- 
thing? (c) How is it made plausible that she will conceal from 
the King her new knowledge concerning Hamlet, and thus take 
sides against him? 

12. (a) How has Hamlet learned that he "must to England"? 
(d) Does the Queen know that the King means thus to be rid of 
Hamlet altogether? {c) Does she gather that now from Ham- 
let's talk? (d) Why does Hamlet tell her so openly and freely 
of his counter-plot? {e) This last is a ' degree-effect ' of what 
sort? 

13. (a) What difference in the feelings between mother and 
son here from those with which the scene opens? (d) Is the 
mother satisfied with the way she has been "round with him"? 
{c) What sort of a report can she, will she, make to the King of 
this? 

14. (a) In \}a.& Hystorie of Hamblet, ixoxn which Shakespeare 
drew, is the Queen in sympathy with her son at any time? 



32 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

Id) Is there any gain to the play that the Queen shall seem to 
have transferred her sympathies to Hamlet? (c) Do you think 
what Polonius says in 11. 3, 4 of this scene really true or a con- 
tributive device of the author? {d) Do you know of devices of 
this kind in Shakespeare? 



ACT IV. 

SCENE I. 

1. (7) What is meant by " sighs," and "profound heaves"? 
Who is the author of them? {b) Why should the King think it 
necessary to say "must"? (<:) Why does the King here say 
"we" in speaking to his wife? {d) Why 'effect' in "your"? 
{e) Do the King and the Queen here seem as much in accord 
as in the second scene of Act I. 

2. (a) May there be anything in the Queen's manner that in- 
duces this? If so, is it intentional? {b) Explain the 'degree 
effect' of mood in the matter and manner of 11. 1-3, and 1. 6. [c] 
What was the King's dominant mood in I. 11.? Compare also 
the stage direction following I., iv., 6. (^d) May such change 
contribute also on the King's side to any coldness? 

3. {a) Why does the Queen send Rosencrantz and Guilden- 
stern away ? {b) Had she wished them to withdraw while speak- 
ing of Hamlet hitherto? (r) What first impression does she 
seem desirous to give the King in " What I have seen to-night " ? 
{d) Does she really think Hamlet mad as the sea and wind? {e) 
Does she think she is giving a truthful version when she says 
"Behind the arras hearing something stir," — why does she omit 
that outcry was made ? 

4. (a) Does the King grieve more than Hamlet for the death 
of Polonius, or as much? {b) Does this show anything of char- 
acter? Of mood? [c) What makes the King imagine himself 
in Polonius' place ? {d) What may the King expect will be 
the effect of 1. 13 on the Queen ? Is this effect perceptible? {e) 
Then why does he say " To you yourself," 1. 15? Do you think 
he wishes to give information of his danger? (/) What effect 
do these words have on the queen ? 

5. {a) Does the King mean or believe 11. 17-19? {b) If the 
publishing of this deed would cause Hamlet to be 'kept out of 



34 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

haunt,' what would the King do? (c) What of the sincerity of 
11. ig-23? {d) What of the sincerity of the last four words of 

I. 23? 

6. {a) Is it true that Hamlet is weeping, or has wept, for what 
is done? (d) Why does not the Queen speak further? (c) Is 
there reason to suspect she may be doing something else the 
while? id) Is the King now (1. 28) in the same mood as at open- 
ing of the scene? (f) Why does he say (1. 33) join you with some 
further aid? (/) Of what is the King so much in fear? 

SCENE II. 

1. (a) Why do you think Shakespeare lets us hear these first 
words of Hamlet? Do they show he has been crying? (d) How 
much time has elapsed since Hamlet parted from his mother? 
(c) Is there any point in Hamlet's saying 'they' (1. 3) instead of 
the names of his friends? (d) Though they have come virtually 
to arrest Hamlet, is he subordinated to them? 

2. {a) What illustration of Hamlet's literalness in 'compounded 
with dust '? (d) Do you think Hamlet was sorry because Rosen- 
crantz did not understand him? (c) Applying the principle of 
literalness, can you get any meaning out of Hamlet's paradox, 

II. 26, 27. (Try 'king,' of second clause, in sense 'true kingli- 
ness,' 'rightful king.') 

SCENE III. 

1. {a) To whom does the King say his first paragraph? (d) 
Why does he prefer to tak-e the odium of Polonius' murder to 
letting the matter be much discussed or inquired into? {c) Do 
you think Hamlet is really much "guarded," without? (d) 
Does Guildenstern "bring in" Hamlet as bidden, seeing that 
Hamlet precedes? (e) What ' mood-effect ' in the King's first 
words to Hamlet? 

2. (a) After Hamlet's second answer, what makes the King 
say 'alas'? (d) What 'mood-effect' in 11. 30, 31? (^r) Why does 
the King say 'for thine especial safety ' (I. 39) ? {d) Can you see 
any reason why Hamlet should express surprise when the King 
says "for England"? (<?) Do you think the King's boastful 



HAMLET 35 

implication that his purposes are close hid has any effect on 
Hamlet ? (/) Can Hamlet's reply, perhaps, have some meaning ? 
3. (a) Why does Hamlet say " Farewell, dear mother," here and 
now? Is it to continue his crazy role? {d) Where has he said 
a similar thing under somewhat similar circumstances? (c) 
Why does the King pretend he himself must not be left out? Is 
this for Hamlet's ears? (d) Why does the King say "Follow 
h\m a^ fooi" ? (<?) Why the apostrophe-soliloquy, at end? (/) 
Why could not the substance of this have been told us in some 
other way, — as to some one in our hearing? 

SCENE IV. 

1. (a) Who is Fortinbras, and of what use is he to the plot? 

(d) Why does the author make Hamlet meet the captain and 
not his chief? {c) Would Hamlet's subordination of himself to 
Fortinbras have been assisted if they had met here before us? 
{d) Why does Hamlet think so ill (II. 25-20) of the present en- 
terprise, being one any king would consider worth his while? 
Is it his general philosophy, or the effect of present troubles? 

(e) What new illustration here of Hamlet's knightly politeness? 

2. {a) Can you see why the audience needs to hear from Ham- 
let in such a soliloquy as now follows? {d) Why should he be 
distressed at what he has just seen? (c) Do you incline to the 
opinion, held by some respectable critics, that Hamlet's reason is 
unsettled? {d) How then can a man, going thus into voluntary 
exile, talk bumptiously about "bloody thoughts from this time 
forth"? (e) Is it possible that this may not mean exile, and on 
that very assumption Hamlet speaks? Gather all the proof you 
can. (/) Is it possible that Shakespeare intended this soliloquy 
to indicate that Hamlet has not given up, but will be all the 
more ready to seize occasion to do his duty? 

SCENE V. 

I. (a) Does the Queen know who is seeking her without and in 
what plight? (d) Do you think any such thing may have hap- 
pened before ? (c) Is the fourth paragraph said for the Queen's 



36 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

benefit or ours? {d) Is the introduction of Ophelia to us here 
well managed, dramatically, or the reverse, and why? (e) Can 
you see any reason for the aside (11. 17-20) just as Ophelia comes 
in? 

2. (a) What 'effects ' of kind and degree show us Ophelia's in- 
sanity? id) Are her manner and spirit in the first line the same 
we have known hitherto? (c) Does this exhibition of Ophelia 
insane contribute anything to the question of Hamlet's mad- 
ness? (d) Is there any advantage in having the King not here 
at the beginning, but enter as we find? (e) Do you consider 
Shakespeare's work here with Ophelia good and natural ? (/) 
What two strains run through all her talk? (^) Do you find 
yourself thinking, or feeling, about Hamlet as you see her? 

3. (a) Do you see any other motive in the King s "Follow her 
close " than Ophelia's safety? (3) Do you find any sufficient 
reason for the King's long paragraph to the Queen? (<?) Does 
it have the ring of genuineness and sincerity throughout? (</) 
Is it cant merely or mainly, or apologetic to the Queen,' who 
perhaps is moping at Hamlet's banishment? (e) Why should 
the Queen, if she knows less of present dangers, be more aroused 
than the King ? 

4. (a) Has Laertes, seemingly, any of the nobility in his sup- 
port? (1^) How do former impressions of Laertes square with 
this outbreak? We do not like the King, but do we wish La- 
ertes to prevail? (c) Can you see why Laertes would keep his 
followers out? (d) Does he know how his father met his 
death? (e) Do you consider him sincere in this demand upon 
the King? 

5. (a) Has Laertes approached the King with any weapon? 
(d) What is the Queen's act and attitude? (c) Can you account 
for the King's bravery and calmness? [d) Is the subordination 
of Laertes to him overdrawn? (e) Is Laertes' paragraph 
"How came he dead," etc., pleasing? Why? 

6. (a) Can you see reason why the King is not incensed at 
such reckless and treasonous language? (d) Do you think such 
an answer as " who shall stay you " unkingly? (c) Remember- 
ing the course of the plot, do you see what, in the first stage, the 



J I AM LET 37 

author is now evolving? {d) Up to the point where Ophelia 
comes in again, which is subordinated to the other? 

7. {a) Does the spectacle of Ophelia's madness and Laertes 
grief have any effect upon your enthusiasm for Hamlet? (b) Do 
you think Laertes' grief is genuine? Is it profound? (c) Has 
Polonius' death alone caused Ophelia's insanity ? 

8. (a) Is this return of Ophelia a repetition, more than the re- 
turn of the ghost in the first scene ? {b) What is the most pa- 
thetic thing that she does or says ? (c) Is there any wandering 
reference, this time, to her affair with Hamlet? (^d) Is there any 
reason, in her mad thought, that has kept her from gathering 
violets? {e) How do you account for such disposition of the 
flowers as the notes explain ? 

9. (a) Does this scene give Laertes right occasion for re- 
venge? {b) What do you say of the terms proposed by the 
King to Laertes ? {c) What does the King mean by "no trophy^ 
sword, nor hatchment"? {d) How could Polonius have been 
interred without a public funeral? 

10. {a) What do you understand the King means to tell La- 
ertes ? {b) What does he mean by "great axe "? {c) After say- 
ing "Let the great axe fall" can he avoid revealing the fate he 
has ordered for Hamlet? {d) From Laertes' allusions to Ham- 
let in the third scene of Act I. do you feel that Laertes will find 
much old friendship to sacrifice? 

SCENE VI. 

1. {a) In the last paragraph of the last act Hamlet implies 
that there is a plot against his life, and that he has a most effect- 
ive counter plot. Do you think this was all pretense and fus- 
tian? (,b) .f there were any counter plot would Horatio know? 
(c) If there were men assisting Hamlet against the King, would 
they be probably from the lower classes? 

2. (a) Is it worth remarking that bearers of letters do not al- 
ways need to "speak with" those who are to receive them? {b) 
Are the salutations between the sailor and Horatio altogether 
conventional? {c) Who is the "ambassador" referred to? 



38 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

3. [a) Is there anything strange in Hamlet's boarding the 
pirate ship, alone? (d) Is there any proof that the pirates 
looked for ransom from their prisoner? {c) What means 
"thieves of mercy?" (d) Are pirates generally men m position 
to have good turns done for them? 

4. (a) What can Hamlet have to tell Horatio that will make 
him dumb? (d) Why do you suppose Hamlet has written let- 
ters to the King? (c) Will he, after the defiance in scene iii. of 
this act, do anything for policy's sake? 

SCENE VII. 

1. (a) Has Laertes made any choice of wisest friends for this 
audience with the King, and why? (d) What has the King been 
able to instance in illustration of how Hamlet has pursued his 
life ? {c) What do you say of the King's reasons for not punish- 
ing Hamlet? (d) What real reason is not told ? (,?) How much 
do you imagine the King means to hint of Hamlet's supposed 
fate? (/) Why does he not tell all? 

2. (a) Why does the author make the letters to have come in 
at just this time? {i>) Are they brought by the same men as 
Horatio's, and do the men insist on ' speaking with ' the receivers ? 
(c) What does Hamlet mean by "set naked," and why tells the 
King this, saying j/^z<(r Kingdom ? {d) Can you account for the 
new spirit you find in this letter? (e) Is it a new erratic turn of 
its author's mood? (/) What 'effect' of Hamlet's postscript 
"alone"? 

3. (a) Why does Laertes, in lieu of a bloody revenge, threaten 
to "live and tell him to his teeth"? (d) Why does not the 
King remind and countenance him, that he may do his worst? 
(c) What makes Laertes again suddenly think of revenge, solic- 
iting indeed the chance? (d) Do you believe that Hamlet was 
envenomed with envy at Lamond's report? 

4. (a) Point out the steps in the evolution of the plot against 
Hamlet's life? (3) What is the King, from his questions, anx- 
ious to ensure from Laertes? (c) What is Laertes, from his, de- 
oirous to secure from the King in relation to his deed? (d) 



HAMLET 39 

What 'effect' of degree in Laertes' last answer, and in the 
King's remark upon it ? 

5. {a) Does the report of Ophelia's death seem more, or less, 
terrible as made under these auspices? (^) Do you find that the 
Queen's description causes you to see vividly the manner of her 
death? (c) Do you find that the names of the flowers and their 
associations assist in the tragic impressions? {d) Why should 
not here be the climax of the tragedy of poor Ophelia, — why 
should this be less affecting than even her first entry in scene 
V. ? (e) Do you find your admiration for Hamlet affected by 
this situation or this scene? (/) Why does the author make 
the violent exit of Laertes stop the whole? 



ACT V. 

SCENE I. 

1. (a) Who is the person whose Christian burial is here in 
question? How does the author tell us? (d) What attitude is 
the first clown taking with regard to the matter, and what the 
second? {c) From 11. 4, 5, what do you understand has taken 
place? id) What meaning is there behind the first clown's lan- 
guage, 11. 6, 7 ? 

2. (a) Are these men trying to be comical, are they clowns in 
the modern sense? (d) Can you account for the talk in 11. g-12? 

(c) What effect does it have on the second clown? (</) What 
point does the first clown make in 11. 14-19? (e) How far is this 
in keeping with his attitude at the beginning? 

3. (a) How fully does the second clown grasp the last argu- 
ment? {d) Which of the two men is now in conscious subordi- 
nation to the other, and how ? (c) How far is the declaration of 
the second clown, 11. 22-24, made in the spirit of his first para- 
graph (11. 3-5)? (d) What mood-effect in this later utterance, 
and what has inspired it ? 

4. {a) Can you see any reason why the first clown agrees with 
him so willingly, and stops arguing ? {d) To whom does he say 
"Come, my spade "? (c) Can you account for the presence here 
of the second clown ? Is he a grave-digger, or has he come to bid 
the first clown make the grave (cf 11. 3, 4), or is he here by accident ? 

(d) Which of these "clowns " is less rustic and nearer the rank 
of his betters? {e) Can you imagine how the conversation in 
progress as the scene opened was started ? 

5. {a) What difference between the first clown as an arguer 
and a propounder of riddles? {d) Is the first subordination now 
annulled? {c) At whose expense is the liquor to be procured?' 
{a) Does the second clown protest, as he is sent away? 



HAMLET 41 

6. (a) Is this a good place for Hamlet to be again introduced 
to us ? {^) Has be been shown similarly before ? (c) How 
does it chance that Hamlet is here in the churchyard at this 
time? (i/) Where and how has Horatio joined him ? Cite proof 
for your answer, {e) Why do they come up and stand silently, 
while the clown sings ? 

7. (a) What are our present feelings toward the person for 
whom the grave is being made? (d) Does a clownish grave- 
maker generally subordinate public reverence for the dead to 
himself? (c) Do you think Shakespeare's purpose so far has 
been to please the groundlings ? (rt^) How or what does the 
singing contribute ? 

8. (a) What do the dashes and interjections signify in 1. 62? 
(d) Show all the elements in the subordination of Hamlet and 
Horatio to the clown up to 1. 73. (c) Can you see any reason 
why Shakespeare makes the clown throw out a skull? (d) Do 
you find Hamlet as brilliant in his philosophizing as hitherto? 
((?) Can you see any reason why Horatio contributes so little to 
the conversation ? 

9. (a) Why do not Hamlet and Horatio now go away? (d) Do 
you find this Hamlet changed in any way from what he was before 
his exile ? (c) Has he been more cheerful, or less, than now, in 
his talk with Horatio hitherto? {d) Can you see any purpose 
in this prolonging of the talk about the skulls? (e) Is it to intro- 
duce the element of time? 

10. (a) Why should Hamlet wish to speak to the clown? 
Has he much sought the society of such fellows hitherto ? {d) 
Has he ever, up to this point, subordinated anybody to himself, 
and how? (c) Is the clown's wit superior to his? (d) How do 
you account for this defeat? (e) Does the clown recognize 
him? 

11. (a) What is the effect further of having Hamlet propound 
so many questions to the clown ? (d) Do you think the clown 
believes what he says about the tanner? (c) What effect has this 
on the subordination here? (d) Can you see any important 
purpose served by mention of the thirty, and the three and 
twenty years ? (e) And what contribution, if any, by allusion to 



42 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

the elder Hamlet, and his jester? (/) What is Horatio's mean- 
ing in 1. 195? {£■) Does Hamlet understand him? 

12. {a) Do you think Shakespeare made Hamlet say the re- 
maining lines, up to the entry of the mourners, because inevit- 
able and natural from Hamlet, or for some other reason? (d) 
Have you seen Hamlet more idealized than at this point? (c) 
Do you think Hamlet considered 11. 202-205 good poetry? (d) 
Why does he say "soft, aside," on seeing the approach of the 
King? Does the King precede? {e) Does he not at once see 
the others? (/) Can you account for the lateness in the prep- 
aration of this grave? Is it, perhaps, because of delay in set- 
tling the question of Christian burial? 

13. {a) Where is the grave-digger as the procession ap- 
proaches? (1^) Is the subordination of the dead to the pre- 
parations for burial now changed? (c) To which side of the 
subordination do Hamlet and his friend belong? (d) Does their 
stepping aside so as to be hid contribute anything either way? 
(<?) Why does not Horatio tell Hamlet that Ophelia is dead? 

14. (a) Why does the author have Hamlet say 1. 213? (d) 
Why has the King overs wayed the order? {c) Do people know 
that Ophelia was in love with Hamlet? {d) When Laertes 
knows that the King has interfered so much for his and Ophe- 
lia's sake, why does he proceed to bulldoze the priest? (e) Af- 
ter Hamlet discovers that it is Ophelia who is dead, why is the 
Queen made next to speak? 

15. (a) Why is Laertes made to utter these imprecations so 
publicly? (d) Does he feel all the grief he gives vent to? (c) 
What motive or motives make Hamlet now come forward? (d) 
Has he any reason to keep himself from sight? (e) Is there 
any subordination here ? Explain. 

16. (a) Where else have you seen Hamlet so idealized ? (d) 
Do you detect any difference of feeling between what is said by 
the King and the Queen in 1. 254? (c) Has Horatio often ex- 
postulated with Hamlet about his utterances in public? (d) 
Why does he say 1. 255? (e) If we have felt displeased with 
Hamlet hitherto concerning his treatment of Ophelia, does this 
seem likely to increase that feeling? 



HAMLET 



i:\ 



17. (a) Why docs the Queen ask the question in 1. 258? Does 
she ask it for information? {d) What prompis Hamlet to say 
11. 259-261? Is he just awakinfj to the fact that he did love her 
after all? (V) What does he mean by "What wilt thou do for 
her?" (d) Why does the King then address Laertes? Does 
he believe what he affirms? (e) And why does the Queen add 
1.263? 

18. {a) What mood-effects in 11. 265-26^ ? {!>) What is the 
occasion of this mood in Hamlet? (c) Why does not Laertes 
answer something ? (d) What later in the paragraph explains 
all? (if) Do you think Hamlet means what he says ? 

ig. (a) Is Hamlet speaking and acting here after the fashion 
that the court has of late remarked ? (d) Why does the Queen 
say it is madness when she more than all the rest knows better ? 

(c) Do you think she fears something from Laertes ? Why ? 
.{d) Now that Hamlet has been pronounced mad, both by his 

mother and by the King, why does he not go back to his crazy 
role ? (e) If he had done so, would the King have been better 
pleased? Would the Queen? 

20. (a) What does Hamlet allude to in 1. 279? (/;) Why again 
does Laertes refuse to speak? (^) How do you understand that 
the part of Laertes should be played here as to movements or 
posture? id) Do you not think Hamlet's language in II. 280-282 
a little egotistic ? Does he really mean that he thinks himself a 
Hercules? 

21. (a) If Hamlet came to the churchyard to wait for some- 
thing, why does he go thus away? (d) Why does he not take 
Horatio, and why does Horatio stay ? [c) Why does the King 
bid him follow his friend? {d) Of what use is the King's word 
now to Laertes? (e) Does Gertrude understand or suspect? 
(/) What does the King intend shall be the effect of 1. 286? 
(£) What the meaning of the last three lines, and to whom 
addressed? 

SCENE II. 

I. (a) How does it chance that Hamlet and Horatio have not 
discussed the matters alluded to in the letter (IV., vi.) till now? 

(d) How does it chance they are now here together? (c) What 



44 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

is it that Hamlet alludes to by "this," and by "the other?" (^) 
And what "circumstance" is meant? (e) Do you think Hamlet 
now feels much grief for Ophelia? Why? 

2. (a) Do you think Hamlet usually stops his narration to 
philosophize, as in his second paragraph here? (d) Does Ham- 
let's conduct, as now described, argue much weakness and inde- 
cision? (c) What is the meaning of "wrote it fair"? (d) Why 
did he once "hold it a baseness to write fair"? Whose hand was 
he imitating ? (e) Why does Hamlet ask the question in 11. 36, 37? 
(/) Is Horatio displeased that Hamlet is back in Denmark ? 

3. {a) What do you think of Hamlet's forging the King's 
order for the death of his friends? Do you justify it? (d) What 
do you understand to be Hamlet's reasons for it? {c) Was it 
necessary for him to substitute any other death warrant for his 
own? 

4. (a) Whyshould Horatio be surprised, 1.62, at the revelations? 
(d) Whyshould Hamlet again question whether it does not 'stand 
him now upon' to do his vengeance? {c) Why is Horatio silent 
to this appeal? (d) What is really the purport of his next 
words? 

5. (a) What does Hamlet mean by "the interim is mine"? 
What will he do in it? (d) Will the King, in his opinion, at- 
tempt public punishment, even when the death of his two friends 
is known? {c) What will the King attempt? (d) And what 
does Hamlet feel will be the result? (e) Do you find Hamlet 
changed in mood, or, as some commentators say, a changed man? 
(/) Is there any significance in this transition from his own 
danger and vengeance upon the King to his little quarrel with 
Laertes? (^) What does he mean in saying "by the image of 
my cause I see the portraiture of his " ? (A) Has Hamlet forgot 
what put him in a towering passion? 

6. (a) WhatisOsric? (d) Why does Hamlet call him a water- 
fiy, and keep him waiting by his asides to Horatio? (c) Why is 
Osric so deferential? 

7. (a) What sort of language does Osric use in attempting to 
tell his message? (d) Had Shakespeare ever known of such 
language being used anywhere? {c) What name has been given 



HAMLET 45 

to it, and what is its history ? (^) Has any of it occurred before 
in this play ? 

8. (a) After Osric's first long paragraph why does Hamlet use 
the same kind of speech? (d) Do you detect any difference be- 
tween the kind each uses? (<;) How long does Hamlet continue 
in the same vein? (d) What does Horatio mean when he says 
" all 's golden words are spent "? 

9. (a) What is the reason of Osric's answering 'rapier and dag"- 
^1?^' to Hamlet's question? (d) Do you think that in the " twelve 
for nine" wager Shakespeare blunders in his arithmetic? (c) 
Can you explain the terms of the bet satisfactorily to yourself? 

10. {a) Why should not Hamlet, after recent experiences, 
have regarded this message of the King with suspicion? (d) 
Why in any case would he consent to please the King? 

11. (a) What is the King's purpose in so quickly sending the 
lord to Hamlet? (d) Do you find anything significant in the 
words Hamlet uses in 11. igo-192 ? (c) Do you think Hamlet is 
deceived by the King's apparent friendliness ? 

12. (a) From 11. 195, 196, do you think the Oueen is so de- 
ceived? {d) Do you think she knows of the plot? (c) Why is 
it that she sends this message? (d) From 1. 197, do you think 
Hamlet understands her intent? 

13' (<2) What happened in Hamlet's life about the time of La- 
ertes' voyage to France? (d) Why has Hamlet been "in con- 
tinual practice " since then? (c) Can you explain Hamlet's fore- 
boding ? Why does he not act on Horatio's advice? 

14. (a) What is again shown of Hamlet's character in 11. 214, 
215? (d) Does Hamlet now think that either the King or La- 
ertes believes him mad? Is he treated as a madman in this 
scene? (c) What does he wish Laertes to understand by 11. 216- 
232 ? Why does he not speak more plainly ? 

15. {a) Do 11. 238-240, under the circumstances, help Laertes 
in your estimation ? (d) What contrast in 11. 252, 253 ? 

16. (a) Why does Hamlet wish the cup set by awhile ? {6) 
Why does the Queen proffer her napkin and even come herself to 
wipe Hamlet's brows? (c) Do you think, with Steevens, that 
this " might have been spared " ? 



46 ANALYTIC QUESTIONS 

17. (a) Why is it not the King who calls attention to the 
Queen when she falls ? (d) Now that Hamlet bleeds and knows 
of the treachery, what does he think of first? {c) How does 

I. 296 affect our notion of the King? {a ) What is shown by the 
Queen now calling to Hamlet and not to the King? 

i8. (a) Where does Hamlet know the treachery will be found 
to lie? (d) Do you understand why Shakespeare permitted us to 
hear 1. 284? (c) Explain Laertes' mood from this line to 1. 319. 
{d) Does this in any way affect our impression of Hamlet? 

19. {a) Would Hamlet heretofore have thought of using an en- 
venomed sword with which to kill the King? Is the venom 
needed, — i. e., is it from this that the King dies 't (d) Why does 
Hamlet say 1. 309? (c) Why does he then act so suddenly? 
(d) Why does he have nothing to say about "perfect con- 
science"? (1?) Do you think Hamlet's revenge satisfactory? 
(/) Does he now lament that he is to die? {^) Why does he 
say "Queen," I. 321, instead of "mother"? (/z) Point out the 
"poetic justice" in the manner of the King's death. 

20. (a) Now, though the King has been convicted of open 
villainy, is Hamlet indifferent concerning what the world shall 
say of his last act? (d) Why does Hamlet say "But let it be," 
1. 326 ? (c) Interpret the effects of character and mood in 

II. 328-331. (d) What evidence as to Hamlet's dread of death 
in 11. 334-337? Compare with 1. 312, and explain. 

21. (a) What effect from the announcement of Fortinbras be- 
fore Hamlet's death? (d) Is Hamlet made to seem identified 
with the old order of things or the new in Denmark ? How is 
this accomplished? (c) What would Hamlet say if he were per- 
mitted to complete the sentence broken in 1. 346? 

22. (a) What are the purposes of the rest of the scene ? 
id) Do you consider under all the circumstances that Hamlet's 
life was a failure? (c) What, to you, is the meaning of the play? 



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OCT 



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